Baltimore quickly went to work on its bullpen when the offseason got underway, adding Andrew Kittredge in a trade with the Cubs. The veteran righty would likely be the club’s closer if the season started today, but president of baseball operations Mike Elias still has plenty of time to add to the bullpen. Elias spoke to reporters last week, including Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports, and provided some insight on the plans for the bullpen.
“We’re trying to make an external addition there, so working on that right now,” Elias said. “I can’t say things with 100 percent certainty, but we’re making every effort to make external additions to the bullpen and in particular an experienced ninth-inning guy if we can.”
Elias specifically citing the need for a closer makes sense given the injury timeline for Felix Bautista. The 30-year-old had surgery in mid-August to repair a torn rotator cuff and a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. He’s expected to miss 12 months. If he sticks to that recovery outlook, Bautista would likely only be able to contribute in the final month of the season.
Bautista took over as Baltimore’s closer to finish the 2022 season. The Orioles dealt Jorge Lopez to the Twins for a package that included Yennier Cano and Cade Povich, who would both become big-league assets. Bautista recorded 15 saves that year, his first season at the MLB level. The big righty blossomed into an elite closer in 2023, securing 33 saves with a pristine 1.48 ERA to earn his first All-Star appearance.
Unfortunately, Elias has prior experience replacing Bautista after a major arm problem. The closer missed all of 2024 with a UCL injury. In that offseason, Elias chose to add a future Hall of Famer on a short deal. Baltimore’s lone major league signing ahead of the 2024 campaign was Craig Kimbrel on a one-year, $13MM pact. The results were good, until they weren’t. Kimbrel notched 19 saves with a 2.37 ERA over the first three months of the season. An ugly five-outing stretch in July that saw Kimbrel allow seven earned runs and blow two saves ended up costing him the gig. Seranthony Dominguez served in the closer’s role from early August through the end of the season.
Elias was much more active in terms of big-league adds this past offseason, mostly for veterans on short deals. Baltimore fleshed out the backend of the rotation through one-year agreements with Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano. The club added part-time bats Gary Sánchez, Ramón Laureano, and Dylan Carlson for a year apiece. Tyler O’Neill was the only free agent to earn a multi-year agreement, signing for three years and $49.5MM.
And of course, there was Kittredge, who joined the team on a one-year, $10MM deal. Baltimore didn’t have pressing needs in the bullpen heading into 2025, with Bautista healthy and Dominguez, Cano, and 2024 trade deadline acquisition Gregory Soto behind him. The unit thinned out considerably as the season progressed and Baltimore fell out of contention. Kittredge, Dominguez, and Soto were shipped out at the trade deadline. Bryan Baker was traded to Tampa Bay in early July. Cionel Perez was designated for assignment in May. Cano and Keegan Akin were the only relievers from the Opening Day roster to end the season on the team.
The good news for Elias and company is that the free agent market is loaded with impactful options. Edwin Diaz, Devin Williams, Robert Suarez, and Ryan Helsley are the headliners. Pete Fairbanks, Luke Weaver, and Emilio Pagan have strong recent track records. Kirby Yates, Shawn Armstrong, and Kyle Finnegan are decent veteran choices. Baltimore could also reunite with Soto or Dominguez, who are back on the market.
If Elias wants to go the future Hall of Famer route again, Kenley Jansen would fit the bill. The righty didn’t miss many bats in his lone season with the Angels, but put up 29 saves with a 2.59 ERA. The 38-year-old could likely be had on a relatively inexpensive deal, and he’ll be a decent piece to move at the trade deadline if Baltimore’s season doesn’t go as planned.
Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images
He also hung a sign outside the Yard…..Apply Within!!!!
Go ahead down there to the yard and apply!
Would be cool to see a left handed closer again. Randy Myers popped in my mind immediately when I thought about it haha.
Hahaha
Orioles are signing Diaz. Book it.
/s
Excellent that leaves the better Diaz for the reds
The Mets aren’t getting outbid for Diaz. The O’s might sign Suarez or Fairbanks.
/s means sarcasm
This feels right to me. It fits somehow. I think he values relief pitching and this is more in his comfort zone with RPs getting less years less dollars. He can talk with this person and that but think when Cease’s agent says beat 7 years 210 million and you got him, Elias says I’m glad we talked, I’ll get back to you. 4 yrs 80, 5 yrs 100 I think is something he can digest a lot better. Especially when its we need this and I can check a box. Think he likes to check a box for cheaper.
Dont get me wrong. Not saying I absolutely expect him to do this. Just think it fits a ton more than Cease or Kyle Tucker for them in terms of commitments and need. And they desperately need a high-end closer if they are going to tell themselves they are going to try to compete for a division title. I think Elias looks at needing an OF and looks at Tucker and says, no, Ward instead for 300M+ less.
Kirby Yates, come on down!
He said experienced, not effective.
I would go even worse than that and say a reunion with Craig kimbrel or Evan Phillips or if Blake treinen is available
Blake was still recovering from carrying the dodgers bullpen to a world series title in 2024. He should be more effective in the upcoming season.
Personally, I would like to see Phillips return to the Dodgers eventually. To pay him 6.1m didn’t make sense. But to sign him to something lower moving forward while he recovers would make sense.
The two of them were a huge reason dodgers won in 2024. And they did it knowing their arms would pay the price of such heavy usage during that stretch. I’m ok with rewarding that effort.
Kenley Jansen makes the most sense as he can likely be had on a 1 year deal, the rest are all likely to seek/receive multi-year deals. Fairbanks is a guy i could see them targeting though, Finnegan too
I would go Jansen too but he may prefer to stay in Anaheim.
Plus, not only would Jansen be tradeable if things don’t go Baltimore’s way, he would probably be one of the reasons!
Jansen is the Rodney Dangerfield of closers. He’s had 25 or more saves every season (except pandemic yera) since 2012. Last season he had 29 saves and one blown save. It was the first year in his career he struck out less than 10/inning, but he sort of made up for it with a below career average WHIP. He’s highly motivated: 24 saves short of 500 lifetime, which along with 20 post-season saves and four all-star appearnces, likely guarantees HOF. For one year I’d rather have him than Weaver, Pagan, Yates, Armstrong or Finnegan, and given what the others are going to go for, I’d rather have Jansen than any of them.
Hahaha I like him though
@Rsox Jansen is finished
Finished? He’s coming off yet another excellent season.
@El Kabong I watched him pitch last year. He got very lucky. He is not the same pitcher that he used to be
No offense, but I doubt you saw Jansen pitch all that much in 2025.
On what basis do you claim that he was lucky? His top line numbers were excellent, and his peripherals support that.
Supposedly he’s already dropped a lot of weight in the attempt at being in better condition and he wants to get to 500 Saves so i don’t think he’s “finished”
Signing Jansen would work our about as well as signing Kimbrel. Both have been great, but also have a LOT of innings on their arms. Well a lot for a closer anyway.
Despite the non-tender, I think both Suarez bros. end up at Camden.
No mention of Robert Suarez, huh?
They should be looking for experienced 1st thru 7th inning guys.
It’s interesting that Elias is as verbal as he is this off season. While the quotes are obvious, he doesn’t usually signal much of anything in his black ops FO typically. To be honest, I like that you don’t have a lot of leaks from his staff. But the reason this is notable to me is that it seems to point at an active and surprisingly unElias winter. I hope I’m right and the Os actually address their glaring needs with some atypical Elias approaches like not holding future value as the highest good. Certainly, the Ward/Rodriguez trade did that but they’re going to have to be okay with some more overpays to put themselves in a position to battle in the AL East in 26.
I think most FO leaks are either writers making stuff up, or FO disinformation.
I have a pretty similar take: He got roasted for raising expectations last off-season, and he’s doing more/louder talk than ever before.
A). He’s for real.
B). He’s a sick human being and taunts the fans.
C). He’s just thick and mistakes criticism for praise.
D). None of the above. Only Chuck Norris can know (hope to know) the mind of a 4th dimensional being that Elias is. And I’m not Chuck Norris.
Fairbanks really feels like the guy to me based on his likely price and deal length, and his track record of success in the AL East.
Edwin Diaz is definitely not happening and I don’t have any problem with that.
I’d be happy with Fairbanks. The Orioles need to get Legos to sponsor them, and how cool would a 2026 Oriole Bird minifig be? Even if they needed to pay for the custom tooling, a different Bird each year could be a massive promo draw each year.
Get Helsley and Fairbanks. Criminal if we come out of this winter into ST with similar behavior as last year.
I think the offense needs another lift. How about they rock the boat and trade Jackson and a prospect for Corey Seagar and kick either him or Gunnar to 3rd and move Westy to 2b. THAT would be impactful. Fairbanks or Suarez would be nice but so would a bounce back from Cano to go with him Kittredge Akin and Suarez. Solid there.
Im not opposed to that kind of deal, i just dont think seager is the right choice. And its been over 2 years since you could count on cano, i feel that ship has sailed
I hope you mean Jeremiah Jackson and a prospect for Seager and not Holliday (not that that is realistic). I believe in #7’s upside so trading for an oft injured veteran on a huge salary doesn’t move the needle. $ needs to go to pitching and more pitching .
But didn’t the analytics geeks say that we’re using 9th inning guys wrong and should be in the more important situations that may appears in the 6th, 7th or 8th?
You need a geek to tell you that If judge is up second in a 1 run game in the 8th, that’s the spot to use your best reliever?
@Dustyslambchops23
But O’s are looking for an experienced closer for the 9th inning guy.
So because Elias didn’t say, “We’re looking for an experienced closer for the ninth inning who we may also use in other situations if the opportunity presents itself from time to time,” it means we have to discount the field of analytics?
Kind of seems like a stretch to me.
York – Not sure what degree of seriousness you’re at, but I’ll give a serious response.
They said sometimes in the 7th or 8th, not the 6th as those same batters would be up again later in the game. And it does make sense, however today’s analytics geeks consider themselves much smarter than those now-old analytics geeks and therefore believed that bullpen approach should be changed. Some managers do actually follow it occasionally, but not often. For instance Cora brought in Chapman for the 7th inning one time this year.
Heck I’m so old I remember when “Bullpen By Committee” was the newest brilliant idea the analytics geeks came up with, led by Theo ….. it lasted about half a season before it was abandoned after Chad Fox blew a few saves.
* Correction, “Closer By Committee” ……wouldn’t let me edit the correction ….
If you have rock solid 7th and 8th guys, you can have a dedicated 9th inning guy. Personally, I don’t like discounting the 9th inning ever, as even lower lineup batters turn up the juice in the 9th. It’s a different mentality on both ends, and to me, experience does matter. That’s not something simply in the analytics.
I know a guy…led the league in saves a few years, would come really cheap… cash considerations for Emmanuel Clase?
I wouldn’t bet on it
Gee really? I know it wasn’t that funny but lose your sense of humor?
lol did you not get the joke there bud?
I bet he didn’t.
Ha, yep. I see it now.
Kirby Yates come on down.
How about a nice Ryan Walker for Colton Cowser. 1-800-Call Buster
I dont mind trading cowser, but then we wouldnt have a center fielder. And there arent many that are available and worthwhile.
Personally, id sign fairbanks and keller to be the high leverage arms in the pen. They would still need 1 more arm, but that would be a good start in the pen
Ask for a nice Grant McCray to go with him then, Deal ?
Can mariners interest you in a LHP Gabe Speier?
I doubt Speier is going anywhere
Sounds like the same mistake they made with Kimbrel, overvaluing closing experience leading to overpaying for a washed-up closer in free agency. To do it as well as the Phillies though, you have to also overpay for a younger closer at the trade deadline.
We have a closer that’s worth a gamble. Sincerely. Cleveland guardians
This isn’t news. He has said this at least four times to the press since the season ended.
Clase sounds like a good fit.
Wonder if they’ll consider another big name to add like they have with Schwarber, Valdez, etc.
No no no …I don’t have any of those guys going to the Orioles!!!
mlbtraderumors.com/mlb-free-agent-prediction-conte…
Get Fairbanks and reunite the Tampa Bay bullpen 🙂
Probably wouldn’t have to give up much to grab Megill from Milwaukee if FA prices are too high. Unsure of how he will hold up though, had a flexor strain that kept him out for much of the 2nd half, but he was good in the playoffs when he came back.
I mean if they’re looking for experienced, but no longer good; then Jordan Romano is most certainly available.
Plenty of options out there for sure. Wish Bautista could have some luck the rest of the way in regards to getting injured, dudes electric. At this point though you do have to not only look for an immediate fill for the role but perhaps also a long term fill. Most of the really good free agent options look to be what? 31+? Nothing wrong with that per se.
I was kinda hoping to see if Kade Strowd might garner some attention for the opportunity to close, but keeping him around and also adding a good veteran closer makes your bullpen that much deeper and is definitely the avenue they should explore.
Elias: Orioles Looking For “Cheap Experienced Ninth-Inning Guy”
I fixed it.
There remains a big gap between what Elias says and what he does. About the same gap as between where the Orioles are and a world series title.
It became apparent that saving a few bucks to fill slots doesn’t equate to wins.
Until I see ink on the dotted line a closer near the top of his game and not at sunset, let alone the two quality starters they need for a competitive rotation, he’s another lying politician.
The headline reads like a Craigslist Personal Ad. Not that I’ve ever been on CL.. ahem
Looking for someone with experience at second base.
Orioles acquire:
– Taijuan Walker (1/$18M)
– Johan Rojas CF
– Rafael Marchan C
– Gabriel Rincones RF (#9)
– Alex McFarlane RHP (#18)
Phillies acquire:
– Tyler O’Niell LF/DH (2/$33M)
– Adley Rutschman C (2/$30M)
Orioles clear their worst contract, sending Canadian RH hitting O’Niell to the Phillies, who are managed by the Canadian, Rob Thomson. O’s add a back end SP to replace Grayson Rodriguez (Taijuan) and switch hitting top 10 prospect in Rincones, to replace Santander who signed with the Blue Jays last offseason. Cheap and fast CF to replace Cedric Mullins (Rojas), switch hitting defensive catcher (Marchan) to replace Adley – plus a high upside SP prospect. The Phillies get their long term Catcher, and a decent insurance policy (O’Niell) in the event Schwarber signs elsewhere. O’s may want more than this for Adley, but O’Niell is a contract they are reportedly open to moving after acquiring Taylor Ward from Anaheim – most teams wouldn’t touch it.
Os have never said they are open to moving Oneil. Obviously they will listen on him but I actually doubt they’re shopping him knowing that they’ll get nothing in return. Pure salary dump… and they still need to upgrade their hitting against LHP. If Oneil is healthy, he does that with a career .894 OPS. That’s worth the $16m per year. Ward is a hedge in case he’s not healthy. If they’re both healthy and play to career numbers, outlook is really good for the O’s imo.
Also, Os don’t want prospects in return. Otherwise they wouldn’t have traded Grod for 1-2 years of Ward. They are clearly in win mode now.
Lastly, why would they want Walker, especially at that price? They need a TOR starter and another 3/4 type. Terrible FIP, whip, and SO/BB rate. This isn’t MLB the show
I don’t think the O’s can add a top starter like Valdez AND a top reliever like Ryan Helsley
Trevor Megill to the O’s for Coby Mayo.